Activists say government airstrike in north Syria kills 14, mostly women and children

BEIRUT — A government airstrike on a town in north Syria on Friday killed 14 people, mostly women and children, anti-regime activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the 14 were killed in a strike on the town of al-Safira, south of the northern city of Aleppo. The dead included two women and eight children.

An Aleppo activist who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons provided a list of the names of the dead and said the government often strikes the town because rebels are attacking a large military complex on its outskirts.

Rebels clashed with soldiers there on Friday, he said.

A video posted online that purported to show the site of the strike showed a large area covered with the rubble and the walls sheared off of a row of buildings nearby.

The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting.

Activists say the regime often takes revenge for rebel advances by bombing residential areas. They say more than 40,000 have been killed in Syria since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March 2011.

Earlier in the day, activists said that rebels stepped up their siege of a military base further to the north, near the Turkish border, and government warplanes bombed surrounding areas to support the defenders.